It is well recognized that domestic cats crave scratching as part of their natural instinctive character. If a dedicated scratching surface is not provided, domestic cats will generally satisfy their need to scratch by turning to furniture, curtains and other articles which can be substantially damaged as a consequence. Often times, pet cats will not only climb over furniture, especially upholstered chairs and sofas, but will use such furniture and carpeting to condition their claws through deliberate and repeated clawing, pulling and tearing actions specifically with their fore paws. As noted, this clawing activity appears to be an irresistible natural impulse for cats and can be the source of great aggravation to the pet owner.
A number of vendors of pet and pet related products have offered dedicated scratching posts and surfaces in order to ameliorate this problem. Current devices consist of several alternative designs. A first group of cat scratchers consists of a rigid support covered with a plush surface such as rug or sisal. Such objects are generally in the shape of a post or beam which the cat can climb or otherwise engage during the clawing process. In that the plush surface is bonded to its support, once this surface has been compromised due to the cat's clawing action, the entire post or block must be discarded in its entirety.
Because of the unitary nature of prior cat scratching surfaces, if one wished to present a completely different surface to a cat simply because the cat favored an alternative surface or as a means of adding diversity to the scratching experience, one could not alter such a surface without discarding the entirety of the apparatus while replacing it with an alternative.
In addition, corrugated cardboard surfaces have been employed as scratchers. Many cats find cardboard preferable to carpeting as it is a soft material having corrugations that cats seem to enjoy. Also, the corrugated intersities in the cardboard surface can capture catnip thus further enhancing the scratching experience. However, as noted, corrugated cardboard is a relatively soft material which is easily destroyed with even modest cat scratching activity.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a cat scratcher system which can present different scratching surfaces to a domestic cat without the need to completely replace the entire system in order to do so.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a cat scratcher system in which various inserts can be employed to present new scratching surfaces to a pet without changing the entire system by simply changing inserts.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a cat scratcher system in which various scratching surfaces can be replaced as they become compromised and worn without having to replace the entire system.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a cat scratcher system that can be installed and employed on a variety of surfaces, at a variety of angles and that make use of a multitude of attachment schemes.
These and further objects will be more readily apparent when considering the following disclosure and appended claims.